Kawasaki Corleo patents reveal new details of the hydrogen-powered horse
A new patent has revealed further details of Kawasaki’s Corleo concept, including what the rider must wear to make the thing move.
Kawasaki likes to make a splash every now and then, but not even the bonkers H2 could match the collective gasp made when its Corleo concept was launched.
Looking more like an equine/feline crossbreed than a motorcycle, the machine was first revealed as a concept in April 2025, with Kawasaki confirming that production development was underway in December the same year. Now, though, we get our first actual details of how the machine will work and how the rider will interact with it.
Obviously, a machine with four legs and a head is going to need a different control method, which is exactly what Kawasaki has done. First off, to actually ride the thing, you’ll need a special piece of clothing, decked out with the kind of IMUs you normally find on the inside of a motorcycle. The suit measures and tracks the rider’s movements, even calculating their centre of gravity to steer and control the bike.
That’s out-of-the-box thinking at its finest, but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. Horse riders and bikers have one thing in common: we use our bodies to help steer our steeds. It seems as though Kawasaki is taking a leaf out of the horse riding playbook to make its four-legged adventure vehicle controllable.
Another key piece of information is that it will have riding modes, including a rather post-apocalyptic ‘Wasteland’ mode. On top of that, you get an Automatic mode, which we assume is exactly that, as well as Slow and Fast modes. It even has an automatic stop function, which we assume brings the thing to a complete halt should it buck-a-roo its rider into the weeds.
What the patent doesn’t tell us is a definite time for launch. Kawasaki has previously earmarked 2035 as the date its hooves will hit the trails, although as with anything as ambitious as that, it remains to be seen if it will arrive then.
Find the latest motorcycle news on Visordown
Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
